Pride, Prejudice and Quidditch
by thegoldensnitch102
Summary: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that Lizzy Bennet is Quidditch mad!" I couldn't resist combining two of my favourite worlds together.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello and welcome to my fellow Pride and Prejudice and Harry Potter lovers. I recently had the amazing experience of visiting Pemberley (1995 version) and it has spurred me to continue this story I started last year. I have a few chapters written but would love to know anything you'd like to see included. **_

**Chapter 1: Universal Truth**

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Lizzy Bennet is Quidditch mad!

Well, a truth certainly acknowledged in the Bennet household. Lizzy replayed the argument she'd had with her mother earlier that day, her mother's parting words ringing in her ears, "But what is to become of you? No man will want to marry a girl more obsessed with Quidditch than her looks." Sighing to herself, she critically examined her appearance in the large ornate gilded mirror, her mother had placed in her room in the hopes of encouraging her to make more of an effort.

Chestnut coloured, windswept curls gone wild, deep brown eyes with a mischievous glint, freckles galore, all accompanied by her Gryffindor Quidditch uniform. Perhaps her mother had a point. Her reflection frowned back at her, but catching sight of her calendar she quickly grinned which lit up her whole countenance. Large X's crossed out the days, with a drawing of a snitch, circling today's date. It had been a long summer, full of many clashes with her easily upset mother but it was all worth it because today she would finally get to go to the Quidditch World Cup.

Her mother had held the question of her attendance over her head all summer as a threat, but Lizzy had kept her temper, mostly, and anyway she knew her father would have intervened. He was after all, just as obsessed with Quidditch as she was, living the dream as a Quidditch reporter for the Daily Prophet. His sarcastic wit was legendary and his insights known to make or break careers, such was his influence on public opinion.

At home, however, Mr Bennet's influence was rather lacking. With five daughters and a rather shrill wife, he opted early on to take a back seat in family life, only intervening when absolutely necessary. "Anything for a quiet life", he'd often quip.

If Mr Bennet had chosen to examine his motives more carefully, he could have perhaps traced it back to the intense guilt he felt during his first year of marriage. You see he had gone against the express wishes of his parents, when he was going through a rather rebellious stage, and fallen in love with a Muggle. She'd been extremely pretty, and had been in awe of his 'magic tricks.' It wasn't until after they'd walked down the aisle that she'd realised that the tricks, weren't tricks at all, and that when Mr Bennet had told her he was a Wizard, he hadn't been being ironic.

To say she was shocked would have been an understatement, and from that point on she took on the role of a martyr, having felt extremely hard done by, from Mr Bennet's unintentional deceit. They'd gone on to have five children together but Mrs Bennet never quite forgave him.

There was a gentle knock on the door, followed by an extremely pretty blonde head. It was Jane, Lizzy's eldest sister, confidante and roommate. The two sisters, couldn't be more opposite, clearly seen from their sides of their shared bedroom. Jane's half was neat and tidy, no clutter, her rose bud bedspread tucked in, with pink silky material framing her headrest and a Take That poster carefully pinned up. Her desk contained a quill stand, complete with fresh quills, a picture of her family, where she alone stayed still, smiling shyly into the camera, while her family fussed around her.

In contrast, Lizzy's side of the room bore the unmistakable marks of someone who was always in a hurry, who had such a zest for life that she didn't want to miss a moment of it in doing mundane things like making one's bed. The one thing that struck you in particular was the amount of books, oh books on Quidditch of course, but also textbooks and Muggle classics like Jane Eyre, which was a particular favourite of Lizzys. They practically spilled out of the book case and a vast hoard were piled up beside her bed, on top of which sat an unfinished cup of tea, resting on a coaster bearing the Holyhead Harpies team logo.

Jane put her arms around Lizzy's shoulders and quietly asked, "You doing ok?" Lizzy looked up at her dear sister, seeing blue eyes brimming over with concern, and with a wry smile on her face replied, "Nothing a bit of Victor Krum can't fix."

"Oh Lizzy," Jane admonished but Lizzy was pleased to see there was now a smile on her face. Jane was sensitive and kind, and deeply felt the hurts of others, particularly when it came to her sisters. When they hurt, she hurt and Jane knew that the words Mrs Bennet had flung at Lizzy earlier, had affected her much more than she was letting on. But she chose to let Lizzy change the subject stated, "Maybe he'll dance with you at the Ministry Gala tonight, he'd be a fool not to."

"Dance with me?" snorted Lizzy, "I don't want him to dance with me, I want him to fly with me, to teach me how to finally do the Wronskei Feint properly and be as effortless on a broom as he is and…"

Lizzy made herself pause mid flow. She knew how carried away she could get when talking about Quidditch, and the one flaw to Jane's otherwise perfect company, was that she really had no interest in the sport at all. She would of course watch Lizzy playing and enthusiastically cheer from the side lines, but even Jane's legendary patience could be tried at times by Lizzy waxing lyrical over Quidditch manoeuvres.

To prevent her sister's eyes glazing over, Lizzy brought the attention to something much dearer to her sister's heart; the ministry Gala. The Quidditch World Cup final was historically opened by a ball in honour of the players, were notable dignitaries and celebrities were invited. Due to Mr Bennet's growing prestige as a Quidditch journalist, his entire family had been invited this year, including, rather controversially, his Muggle wife.

Since Mr Bennet had casually mentioned the invitation, there had been talk of little else in the Bennet household. Mrs Bennet had squealed loudly, "Girls, what a good father you have," and seemed to consider this a prime opportunity for her to finally fulfil her lifelong ambition; to see her children matched up with eligible and extremely wealthy bachelors. Despite all her daughters still being at school, Mrs Bennet was a firm believer in 'catching them young' before the unfortunate young man had time to form an attachment to anyone else.

A dance master had even been hired to ensure each of the girls could properly waltz. Jane was an elegant and graceful dancer and their dance master, a French man with a large elaborate moustache, even brought an embroidered handkerchief to his eye on their last lesson, so overcome was he with Jane's natural talent on the dance floor.

Lizzy had been much more likely to induce tears of frustration, but she was made to practice again and again until her waltz was deemed 'passable.' Their younger sister, Mary, who considered herself a staunch feminist, had deemed the dance to be "a torturous archaic excuse for old men to feel you up and get away with it," and had completely refused to take part in the dance lessons.

The twins, Lydia and Kitty, tended to have more enthusiasm than skill but they were both rather silly girls whose only interest was the male species and so they'd taken their mothers encouragement to heart. They had a bet going as to who would be asked to dance first, and each was determined to win.

"No," said Lizzy decisively now, "when Victor Krum sees you in that dress there is no doubt in my mind that he'll ask you to dance. And you'd better accept for the good of your dear sister. Imagine having Krum as my brother-in-law," Lizzie smiled dreamily at the prospect. Jane laughed at her and said she'd be only too happy to oblige, only for the sake of Lizzy's happiness of course. The two sisters smiled at one another, each imagining the scene.

"Do you need any help finishing packing?" Jane asked. Lizzy rather smugly gestured to her packed and ready suitcase, "I'm actually all ready to go. Let's go check on the others shall we? I'll kill them if we miss the Portkey!"


	2. Chapter 2

**I have a rough idea of where I want this to go but would love your suggestions too! Harry, Ron and Hermione still exist and we'll have some interactions with them soon. **

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**Chapter 2: Quidditch World Cup **

Lizzy's eyes widened in awe at the sight before her. She had just portkeyed with her family to the Quidditch World Cup via the old coke can waiting for them in their local park, just about making it in time. Lizzy had been most frustrated by her younger sisters, Lydia and Kitty who took absolutely forever to get ready. They had decided to take inspiration for their outfits from Muggle festival attire and wore matching pink wellies, their hair in high pigtails and lots and lots of glitter.

Now they had finally arrived and Mr Bennet caught Lizzy's eye and they both grinned identical rather manic smiles at each other. Where at home their Quidditch obsession was met with lots of eye rolls and derisive scoffs, here they were surrounded by kindred spirits. Although the campsite was only partly full at this stage, as the actual match was a few days away, the Quidditch fanaticism was clear to see with flags, memorabilia and team colours proudly on display. Lizzy poked Jane excitedly as she saw a whole host of moving pictures of Victor Krum.

The reporters had a campsite of their own and they made their way over to the tent bearing the words 'Daily Prophet.' It was clear the newspaper had spared no expense, no doubt wishing to upstage any foreign reporters, and the tent was complete with a Jacuzzi which Lydia and Kitty wasted little time jumping into. The ever moody Mary, grumbled loudly at the noise as she curled up on one of the rather plush armchairs with her book.

Jane could tell Lizzy was itching to explore and she tucked her arm in hers saying, "Come on, I know you're dying to see if you can get a glimpse of the pitch." Mr Bennet waved them in the general direction and off they went. As Lizzy was in the midst of enthusing about the strength of Ireland's team, they heard a familiar voice calling out, "Lizzy, Jane!"

They looked over at the direction of the voice and saw the smiling face of Lizzy's best friend, Charlotte Lucas. Her father, William Lucas was a retired Ministry of Magic employee and was very good friends with Cornelius Fudge, the current Minister of Magic. Fudge had awarded William Lucas an Order of Merlin for reasons that were rather vague in Lizzy's opinion.

Although William Lucas was a kind hearted, affable man, it was hard to imagine him doing anything extraordinary enough to earn the prestigious Order of Merlin. Lizzy would berate herself when these critical thoughts ran through her head. She knew she was far too sharp for her own good and that she tended to be rather judgemental. For the thousandth time she wished she could be more like tender hearted Jane, always seeing the good in people. In reality however she rather prided herself in her sharp mind and her ability to see people for who they truly were.

After the standard hugs and summer catch up, the three young women went to find the Quidditch pitch together. As they walked, Charlotte filled them in on the gossip she had heard from her father, who most likely had heard it from Cornelius Fudge, all about who would be in attendance at tonight's ball.

"Apparently Charlie Bingley is going to be there!" Charlotte announced with glee, watching the other two girl's faces carefully, wanting to see their reaction. Jane didn't disappoint and immediately gave a girlish sort of squeal quickly followed by a deep blush on her pretty cheeks. Lizzy's face however just looked puzzled, "Who?" she enquired.

"Oh Lizzy!" said Charlotte exasperatedly, "Surely even you have heard of Charlie Bingley, aka total hottie." As Lizzie's face continued to look blank, Charlotte, sighing loudly, filled her in. She explained how the Bingley's were part of the Sacred 28, with a fortune that rivalled the Malfoys. Charlie was around their age but his parents had chosen to send him to Beauxbatons, which was a Bingley family tradition. He was known for his floppy blonde hair and was this year's winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award. Lizzy continued to look unimpressed throughout Charlotte's description, whereas Jane was nodding along enthusiastically.

"Apparently he's brought with him seven girls and four guys who all go to Beauxbatons too," continued Charlotte.

"Too many ladies," smirked Lizzy.

"It would be interesting to meet some students from Beauxbatons," said Jane dreamily, "I've always wanted to visit France."

Lizzy smiled at the dopey look on her sister's face, "I feel it would be your diplomatic duty as future Head Girl of Hogwarts to make connections with other schools," and she gave her sister a cheeky wink.

Jane just rolled her eyes at her. Since Jane's first year at Hogwarts, Lizzy had been convinced she would end up as Head Girl. She started to ask Charlotte if she knew any other interesting titbits about the ball tonight when Lizzy was suddenly whisked away from them.

Jane and Charlotte looked over in alarm and then started laughing as they saw Lizzy had been picked up and was being swung round by a well-built, burly Scotsman.

"Ollie! Put me down!" shrieked Lizzy.

Oliver Wood, former fanatical Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, did so slightly sheepishly. "Isn't it amazing!" he said, gesturing all around him. He was practically bouncing on his heels, clearly just as much in his element at the World Cup as Lizzy was.

Laughingly, Lizzy agreed with him, "It really is! But here, why didn't you tell me you were coming early too?" she said slightly accusatorily, punching him in the arm for good measure. The two were good friends after serving for years on the Gryffindor Quidditich team together and tended to keep up an albeit sporadic correspondence over summer. Mostly their letters were full of Quidditch tactics and Oliver making sure Lizzy was keeping up with her training during the holidays.

Oliver looked unfazed by her accusation and her half-hearted punch, well used by now to Lizzy's occasionally violent tendencies. "I wanted to surprise you," he said, "I only managed to come early because of my new job." He said this last bit rather nonchalantly but his excitement clearly shone through.

"Your new job?" questioned Lizzy, noticing his excitement. Then comprehension kicked in, "You did it? You made reserve for Puddlemere?"

"I did it!" he agreed, beaming at her.

Now it was Lizzy's turn to squeal excitedly as she threw her arms around him, "Ollie, that's amazing! I knew you could do it. Won't be long before you're on the full squad." The two began to discuss the merits of the team and their training schedule, which Lizzy joked didn't sound half so tough as what he'd put their team through the year before.

"Worth it when he won though," he'd replied grinning.

"Totally worth it!" she'd replied, grinning back.

They debated over the highlights of Oliver's last match at Hogwarts and then their discussion turned to the new year, "I told McGonagall she'd be a fool not to make you Captain," Oliver said now.

A pleased Lizzy, tried to cover how delighted she was, and was just about to ask how she'd responded when they were joined by Jane and Charlotte.

"I'm afraid we have to drag Lizzy away to get ready for the ball tonight," said Jane apologetically.

"Already?" said Lizzy with dismay, "But I haven't even seen the pitch yet." Jane and Charlotte laughed at her comical expression.

"You two Quidditch fiends were chatting for too long," said Charlotte, shaking her head at her friend fondly. "The pitch will still be there tomorrow."

Turning to Oliver, Lizzy asked hopefully, "See you tonight?"

Oliver grimaced, "Yea, as you know balls aren't really my thing, but my new manager says it'll be great for networking."

"I'm hoping to meet Krum after he falls madly in love with Jane," joked Lizzy.

Jane blushed, and took Lizzy's arm in hers, saying softly but firmly, "Oliver, it was great to see you again, we'll see you tonight."

Seeing Jane meant business and it really was time to go, Lizzy said goodbye to Oliver and Charlotte and allowed her sister to lead her back to their tent. When they arrived back, they could hear the Spice Girls blaring and they realised Lydia must have managed to smuggle her boombox in after all, ignoring the explicit instructions from her mother to leave it behind.

Kitty suddenly burst out of the tent, hair set in bendy rollers making her slightly resemble Medusa. "There you two are, Mum's been going mad that you weren't back yet!"

Jane and Lizzy just looked at each other and took a deep breath before entering their tent. It was time to get ready for the ball.


End file.
